Steam pressure regulator



NOV. 30, 1937. I j TERRY 2,100,555

SREAM PRESSURE REGULATOR Filed Feb. 11, 1935 .57EAM MAIN Elma/who'llCHARLES M. TERRY UNITED STATES PATENT ro-rrlcs STEAM PRESSURE REGULATORCharles Terry, 'Decatur, Ill., assignor to A. W. Cash Company, Decatur,111., a corporation of Delaware 7 l Application February 11, 1935,--Serial No. 5,991 I 2 Claims. (01. 60-545) 'This invention relates tosteam pressure regunected by a link l9 to one :end of a'leverjll'. "Thelators, and more'particularly'to regulators of the opposite 'end of'thelever is pivoted tothestem type having a power actuated motor which iscon- 22 of the balanced valve I-2,.and the lever is suptrolledautomatically in response to variations in ported intermediateitsends bya link '23 mounted 5 the pressure of steam. on the valve casing. 5

It is known practice in'this art to apply the The pistonI5isactuatedby'fiuid pressureunvariable steam pressure to a flexiblediaphragm, der the control of a pilot .valve'mechanism 125 .of -and toutilize the movements of thediaphragm to the four-way type connected tothe ends of the actuate a pilot mechanism, such asavalve. The cylinderl4 by means of tubes 26. A suitable fluid,

l0 pilot mechanismin turn controls a' motor, which such as oil, isdelivered under .pressurerto the '10 may be of the hydraulic type.Regulators of this valve mechanism 25 through a tubeiZ'I, andexconstruction are used for controlling 'stokers, haust fluid is removedthrough a P p The dampers, rheostats, valves, etc., and they funcvalvemechanism 25'is provided with an upwardtionwith a high degreeofsatisfactionso long as 1y pr j cting reciprocable valvestemv 29. .Fora

the steam pressure is not excessive. However, e detailedd rip i n' fx het u -W y Valve 115 many plants today are utilizing steam at pres-"mechanism reference maybe had t the Patent sures of 500 lbs. per squareinch or over. At such to Paul 0. Temple No. 1','890, granted D bighpressures, -the diaphragm has to be made ber 13, 1932.

very thick in order to avoid rupture, and as a re- In Ord to aet etet epilotrvelve, 'P V e a sult it lacks-the degree of flexibility necessaryfor h r zontal arm or lever 3| fulcrumed at ne end "20 response toslight changes in steam pressure. on e w y extending fe-edge 3 T is Itis accordingly the main object of the present varm 3| s ct d by a Ve tca 011133 onn invention to overcome these difficulties and to d of ahorizontal lever 5.; he Other endo provide a steampressure regulatorwhich can be which is connected to the valve stem 29.. T

- used with steam at very high pressures, and which lever {5531'sfulcrumed on the upper end of a V '25 will respondto the slightestchange in the prescal rod36, the lower end of the .rod being ,consure oft Steam nected to one end of a horizontallever ,31 ful- It is a furtherobject of the invention to provide .orumed *at 39. The other end of-thelever 31 is .a steam pressure regulator suitable for use with Connectedby .avertical linkAlJ to a horizontal so ,high pressures and soconstructed and arranged projectiOn 4| m n p Of a memberlti- T is thatthe pressure responsive element can move member '43'is fulcrumed at 44and v'sliltlably@ 1 with substantially no friction and wear. 7 portsaninclined rod .45'havingits ppe D With these and other objects in view,as wi otally connected to'the'piston rod I6. With this be apparent tothose skilled in the art, the invenn ru ti n th 'I I 5 .W sume-.pre-deter- 35 tion resides in the combination of parts set forthmined'pos'itions in its stroke correspondingjto the "'35 in thespecification and covered by the claims appositionsimparted to thearm.j3

pended hereto. Inor-d'er'to obtain the desiredautomatic opera- Referringto the drawing illustrating one emtion, means p ded to place the. arm'31 .in

bodiment of the invention, and in which like refdefinite positionscorresponding to changesjin the 40 erence numerals indicate like parts,the single figst amp essu e inthe main .I'l' Withinia .prede- 4'0"ure-is anelevation, partly in section, of a steam termined ange- FO thp p se I p ovide a pressure regulator arranged to operate a balancedpiston 41 having a comparatively smalldiameter,

valve in a steam main. which is slidable vertically .ina cylindervorguide- The embodiment illustrated comprises a reguway 48. Thisjpiston iselongated and formed with -45 lator 10 arranged to control thepressure'in a a deep central recess orv pocket 49 extending "4'5 steammain or pipe line I l by means of a balanced downwardly from the p o e-pt nearly to valve l2 in the line. This valve is of theordinary thebottom thereof. A vertical strut or rod "5| double-disk type well knownin the art. Steam fits loosely with n the r with i lower-end flowsthrough the pipe in the direction of the in contact with'the bottom wallof the recess.

'50 arrow. This strut 5| carries at its upper end a knife-edge "'50 Theregulator l0 comprises a cylinder l4 and a 52 W h eng the lower Surfaceof he arm piston l5 slidable therein forming a hydraulic -3| at a-pointslightly offset laterally .from'the :motor. A piston rod 16 extendsupwardly from knife-edge 32. The pressure in themain'l'lis ap... thepiston l5and through a stufling box l8 at the 'Pliedto the lower surfaceof the piston 71 3 55 upper end of the cylinder. The pistonrod is con-"means which will be describedhereinafter, and 55 stops 51. The spring56 is: of the coiled tension,

type, supported at its lower end by a bracket 58. The force of thespring may be adjusted by means of a wing nut 59. It will be apparentthat the weights and spring serveto bias the piston 41 in a downwarddirection.

In steam pressure regulators as heretofore constructed the steampressure :has been applied to" the pressure responsive element through abody of water formed by the condensing of the steam. .While this is.satisfactory for diaphragm-type regulators, ithas serious disadvantageswhen a piston is utilized as the pressureresponsive device. 'It is notadvisable to use piston rings or other forms of packing to preventleakage past the piston, for this will cause excessive friction andgreatly reduce the sensitivity of the regulator, and yet if no packingis provided the water will leak past very rapidly, particularly at thehigh pressures with which the present invention is concerned. Suchleakage will cause corrosion and excessive wear, which in turn willincrease the rate of leakage. This leakage of condensate also representsa thermal loss, and will require special means for disposal thereof.

In order to avoid these difliculties I preferably utilize a piston 41without piston rings or other friction producing packing devices. ,Thepiston may be formed witha series of spaced circumferential grooves 6|which are of value in decreasing both the leakage and the slidingfriction. At the bottom of the cylinder 48 I attach areservoir 62, andthe bottom of this reservoir'is connected to the steam main II by meansof a pipe or conduit 63 provided with a valve 64. At installation thispipe 63 is filled with water, or it is allowed to fill with condensatefrom the steam, the pipe being looped downwardly in the form of a U orotherwise shaped to retain water, and the reservoir 62 is filled withoil. This oil is preferably a heavy mineral oil, an oil of the gradeknown as GOO-W having been found satisfactory for the purpose. .This oilfloats on the water in thepipe 63v and transmits the pressure to thepiston 41. Because of the comparatively 'high viscosity of thefoil, itleaks past the piston at, a very slow'rate. Atthe same timeit lubricatesthe piston, prevents corrosion, and increases the sensitivity of theregulator.

In'order to prevent any grit or other foreign matter from entering thecylinder 48, I preferably provide a flexible diaphragm 66 over the topof the cylinder- The central'portion of the diaphragm is secured to thestrut 5|, and its peripheral portion is clamped against the regulatorframe by means of an annular flange 61 at the upper end of the cylinder48. This diaphragm serves as a lateral support for the strut 5|, aswell, as a dirt excluding device. -Since the diaphragm is not underpressure, it can be made very flexible. V i r r 7 :While the leakage. ofoil pastnthe piston is very small, I prefer to provide means forcollectingthe oil andreturningit to the reservoir 62. For this purposethere is shown a receptacle 69 located at one side of the cylinder 48.This receptacle is provided with a sight glass 10 and a removable coverplate 1| having a vent 12 therethrough. A tube M connects the receptacle69 with the space below the diaphragm 66, the bot- 5 tom of thereceptacle being connected to the reservoir 62 by means of a pipe 15provided with a. valve 'l6. A drain pipe 18 is connected to thereservoir near the bottom thereof, and this pipe is provided with avalve 19.

The operation of the invention will now be apparent from the abovedisclosure. Under normal, conditions theipiston l5 will remainstationary, with the'valve l2 partially open. The steam pressure -.inthe main I the pipe 63to the oil in the reservoir 62, an through the oilto the piston 41 and the knife edge 52.- This will support the arm 3| inequilibrium againstthe loading of the Weights 53 and 54 and the spring56. will be in neutral position. If the steam'pressure in the mainincreases slightly, the arm 3| will move upwardly to a new position, atthe same time acting through the rod 33 and lever 35 to lower the valvestem 29 and admit'fluid to the 25 upper end of the cylinder l4, whileexhausting fluid from the lower end. The piston l5 will move downwardly,and the rod 45 will swing the member 43, which will actuate the rod 40,lever 31,

rod. 36, andlever 35, raising the valve stem 29. 0 I

As soon as the pilot valve mechanism 25 reaches neutral position, thepiston I5 will stop. The movement of the piston l5 will have slightly 7closed thevalve l2 to counteract the rising steam In a similar manner, adecrease in35 pressure. steam pressure will-cause movement of the partsin the reverse direction. l

.The regulator can be constructed for very high steam pressures, andsince no packing is required for the piston 41 it will respond to the:40

The oil which has escaped past the piston willhave been replaced bywater the lower part of the reservoir 62, and this water will now flowout through the pipe 18, allowing the oil from the receptacle 69 toreturn by gravity to the reservoir through the pipe 15. As "soon as oilappears at the discharge. of the pipe 18, the operator will close thevalves (9 and (S and open the valve 64, thus placing .the oil .underpressure again.

Whenever necessary, additional oil.can easilybe 0 introduced into thesystem byremoving the cover plate H and pouring the oil into thereceptacle 69. r

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire-tosecure-by Letters Pat- :6

ent is:

1. A control mechanism'for a. steam pressure regulator comprisinga-cylinder, a'piston slidable in the cylinder, loading means biasing thepiston in one direction, a reservoir connectedat its 70 upper end "tothecylinden; a'body of 'oil in the reservoir and in contact withthe-piston, and .a

U-shaped steam pressure conduit connected to the-lowerend-of-the;reservoir, the steam pres- .sure conduit serving to retain aconfined body :75

will be transmitted through 15 The pilot valve mechanism 25 0 by will 145 oil in the reservoir and in'contact with the piston, and a U-shapedsteam pressure conduit connected to the lower end of the reservoir, thesteam pressure conduit serving to retain a confined body of waterbeneath the oil and in direct contact therewith.

CHARLES M. TERRY.

